Pink house, highway signs, drained canal

Making my way over the canal lock, there was a good view of the pink house atop the Old Malt factory that is being torn down. I added a drone in the sky, since there were people flying one again, probably to get video of the ruined structure. My initials PJD adorn one of the silos, along with SAKE, a famous retired writer (graffiti artist/vandal). 

Pink house over trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Off in the distance, highway signs from auto route 10 could be seen over autumn-coloured trees. I liked the contrast between the bright blue/green/yellow of the background, with earthy pastel colours of the foreground elements. 

Highway signs autumn colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Some mallard ducks were making the most of it, a partially drained Lachine canal. The locks are shut down for the season, and they drop the water level to minimum so as to avoid ice-stress on the structures. You can see the rocky ramparts that spend most of the year under water. That is st Patrick street on the top left.  

Drained canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Old Maltage tear down

Hearing about the Old Maltage building in st Henri getting torn down, I headed there to see some carnage. Sure enough, the rear pillar of bricks is in ruins, although the rear facade along st Ambroise is still there. If you go look at a previous blog, the third painting with pigeons called 'Looking up old malt', that whole structure is gone now, inlcuding the pigeons.  

Old Maltage tear down vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

The city had to demolish this part because its collapse was imminent after being neglected since the 1980's. Interestingly, the interior of the structure could be seen, revealing graffiti on the inside walls high up in the structure. Graffiti artists obviously got access to the inside and painted on walls. I once heard the sounds of people living inside the structure while painting the rear door, its the last painting within that link. 

Old Maltage tear down horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

With nice sun and a blue-sky day, I made a third painting of the demolition crane close-up, it had neat reflections on the windshield. The tires were up in the air because the vehicle was suspended by huge iron bracers. There were no workers on the site, although some people were getting a drone going to make reconnaissance, and a lady with a telephoto camera asked me for directions to where she could get a good a view of the pink house. Its like a tourist attraction there!

Demo crane close-up, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Sundown Harley street

Getting down to Westhaven neighborhood I caught this neat view of the sundown over Raffi auto shop. With the sun located top center, I composed the rest of the scene asymmetrically to break symmetry and set up the neat, cool shadow. Pastel tones play well against the high chroma sun colours. 

Sundown over Raffi auto shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Having bought a new tube of bismuth vanadate yellow, a small 5mL tube from Winsor and Newton that cost a fortune... I'd say that yellow lawn was an expensive one to paint lol! But the store was out of Daniel Smith bismuth yellow, apparently they will not carry it anymore (I bought their last tube awhile ago on discount). In this painting, I softened the sky tones to middle-pastel, and let the foreground grass field glow, and carry the visual interest of an angled-shadow from a telephone pole. I painted lightly around the sun to create a surreal glow. 

Pole shadow field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Yellow orange red, all the Autumn colours

Cabot square downtown is quite built up all around, and they installed a new exit structure to the Atwater metro stop in recent times. With tall trees, Cabot square makes for some nice autumn colours including yellows and reds. 

Station Atwater Cabot square, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Yellow and green, more fall colours but graffiti this time, courtesy of ZONEK, or PJD in the painting. All of these building along st Catherine near the Alexis Nihon mall are slated for demolition and redevelopment once the city settles on a plan.

Rooftop graffiti, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And a panorama view of Cabot square with ever-present traffic going up and down Atwater street. Its a busy intersection most times of day including commuter hours. The autumn colours are mixes of bright pigments like bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) and earth pigments like yellow ochre (PY43) or raw sienna (PBRr7). Red is done with a mix of pyrol red (PR254) and burnt yellow ochre (PR101). 

Cabot square multi-colour, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Waiting for the LUFA vegetables, I caught one last view of the sun though a tree. Similar to a painting I made the other day, this one shows tree shadows streaking across an olive-green field of grass, with traffic on Sherbrooke street. This painting is bursting with autumn colours, like a warm cup of tea, caramel, and toasted pistachios. 

Trenholme park sun in trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Sundown NDG neighborhood, and a London Ontario painting

Its been awhile  since I painted over at the Benny sports complex, which is surrounded by recreational spaces and small pockets of nature. Here, you see the sun going down behind some of the condos over on Cavendish blvd, with shadows cast across an olive green field. 

Sundown Benny sports complex, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Occasionally the moon is visible against a blue sky, here I botched the effect some, its exceedingly difficult to pull off. Starting with a blue circle, then getting the semi-circle arch, fill in sky, wait, and overlay a faint blue wash with texturing. Somehow a backwash creeped up from the horizon. 

Moon over cultural center, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Parked off to the side, a huge asphalt paving or removal machine, waiting for more action. Cavendish was being resurfaced finally. The paper was moist and difficult to control. Not to mention an afternoon in the research lab with these reading glasses was nice in terms of vision but unpleasant in terms of a lasting nausea. 

Asphalt machine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Another painting from another time and another space, its London Ontario around the year 2000. Hard to imagine that's a quarter century ago. I will take a quarter century, with cheese please. Speaking of cheese, here we see orange and red, with hints of green all around. 

Autumn London Ontario, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2000

Expo 67 Place des Nations amphitheater

This area was blocked off for as long as I can remember, it was originally an amphitheater built for Expo 67 called Place des Nations on the western-most tip of st Helen's island. The architecture used big concrete geometric structures shaped like triangles, pyramids and towering monoliths. Now the area is open to the public to wander around safely, its a very large expanse of gravel lined by baroque structures and seating.  

Place des Nations shapes, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

More concrete step-seats, with a warm caramel colour they worked nicely against the autumn red orange yellow in the background. I used a greenish umber (PBr7) from Shin Han, its the best one out there to paint old Montreal concrete, along with a dab of raw sienna (also PBr7). Some deft brush-work created the grainy textural effects. 

Concrete step seats, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

A prominent airplane trail in the sky was composed neatly against a row of middle-ground trees, with a yellow block and orange pylon in the foreground. It was quite fun to paint this one, in fact, a very  pleasant afternoon all around, with just a cool breeze. 

Plane trail pylon, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Boardwalk river side, Autumn colours

Its a popular spot for tourists, south shore of st Helen's island, with views of the river, Molson brewery and Cartier bridge. Its so popular, that a large tourist group stood right there and blocked the view of the railing when I was set to paint it. Oh well, everyone enjoyed the nice weather today. 

Boardwalk river bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Rental scooters were lined up, they looked like swans with green helmets! It was a tricky painting to do on such a small format, but my new glasses really helped. I look forward to going back to a larger format, the huger pile of 5 x 7" backs is almost done now. I like the tree effects here, almost like an oil painting thanks to bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) and yellow ochre (PY43). 

Scooters river side, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

The western-most point of st Helen's island has been blocked off for as long as I can remember, it used to be an Expo 67 amphitheater This year finally, they renovated the pool area and opened up to pedestrians, which enabled this painting of the Victoria bridge. The river was turquoise, pale blue, and emerald green, with swirling frothy water. I composed the scene on a portrait format, with a foreground bench to create depth, and welcome the viewer to take a seat along with me and enjoy the view. 

West veiw Vicotora bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026